2025, Family, Uncategorized

Home Remedy

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Husband came down with a head cold late last week. He really suffers when he has a cold. His allergies seem to make cold symptoms worse than normal. He spent the weekend doing nasal irrigation and concocting soup to ease his symptoms. We had quite a bit of the turkey brodo I make from The Splendid Table cookbook, and he doctored it up with lemon juice, poached chicken, turmeric, hot peppers, and Penzey’s Bangkok seasoning. He said it helped, and he feels he is on the mend.

My mother never did much when we had colds. They were just things you suffered through without much fuss. A fever might warrent some aspirin, but there was rarely any Vapor Rub or other over the counter cold medication in the house. My father took a different approach. In the fall and winter he always had a bottle of peppermint schnapps in the freezer. If I had a particularly bad cold he would slip me a shot of the icy schnapps at bedtime. It was really aromatic and put me into a restful sleep

I still tend to ignore cold symptoms and don’t use cold medications. I don’t use schnapps, either, although a hot toddy can be nice at times when the symptoms are bad. I rarely get colds, though, having become immune to many cold strains through 30 years exposure to drippy-nosed preschoolers in the play therapy room.

How did your family deal with colds and flu? Got any good home remedies?

29 thoughts on “Home Remedy”

  1. We’ve used echinacea over the past several years to help reduce cold symptoms. Doesn’t relieve them, but I think minimizes them or staves off me getting the infection from my wife. At least it’s worked a few times. But we’ll use whatever we think necessary: decongestants, cough syrup, antihistamines, aspirin, etc.

    We both got particularly long-lingering colds back at Thanksgiving. Me first, then Sandra a week later. But we didn’t pass the germs on to the in-laws who were visiting during Turkey Week. Go figure. I still have a “cold” cough a few times a day, and Sandra is still hacking and wheezing a bit.

    My only home remedy is gargling with warm salt water for a sore throat. Mom taught it to me as a kid. It still works better than anything to ease the throat pain. Even if it’s psychological, whatever works, works, right?

    Chris in Owatonna

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  2. My mom was a clinic nurse and our home medicine cupboard was well stocked with pharmaceutical samples – especially cough syrup. We also had lots of Vicks Vapo Rub and Mentholatum, which were used liberally when we had stuffy noses or chest congestion.

    These days I rarely get a cold (knock on wood). When I do come down with cold symptoms I use decongestants, sometimes cough syrup, sometimes antihistamines, or a long hot & steamy shower.

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  3. Naps – and lots of liquids, maybe cut back on the caffeine.
    As a kid, I do remember the Vicks Vapo Rub once or twice, but that’s about it. Luckily I don’t get many colds now…

    In the early 70s, I learned of Bieler’s Broth – not for colds, necessarily, but a cleansing and detox soup I used several times.
    You can find many versions of Dr. Bieler’s broth on the internet. Here is one version of the ingredients:
    3-4 medium Zucchini, ends removed and chopped
    1 pound String Beans, ends trimmed
    3-4 stalks Celery, chopped
    1-2 bunches Fresh Parsley (flat-leaf or curly), stems removed
    4 cups Filtered water

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  5. I don’t try a lot of cold remedies – I haven’t had much success with them. I do have some zinc tablets, and if I feel a sore throat coming on I take a couple. I am not sure if they make a difference or not.

    I have only had one cold in the past five years, and it was quite mild. I’ve managed to dodge COVID so far, too.

    Peppermint tea with honey is my comfort beverage when I don’t feel well.

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  6. I have never tried an OTC remedy for cold or flu and don’t know of any home remedies. I stay in bed if it’s very bad. If not I just keep up and about and wait for it to run it’s coarse. In childhood with colds I was allowed to stay out of the barn because of my hay allergy. Otherwise I did all my outdoor chores. My mother used Vicks vapor rub, but it irritated me. The odor is still too much. I imagine Ben milked cows when he was sick.
    Clyde

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    1. Yep. Sometimes it took longer than usual…and a few times I’d have to stop milking, run to the house for the bathroom, and come back.
      I believe working through it helps it go away.

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  7. Rise and Fight off the Bugs, Baboons,

    I am really vulnerable to respiratory infections. As a child, when I contracted these, they frequently turned into bronchitis, and several times walking pneumonia leading to weeks in bed, missing school. I spent a lot of time covered in Vicks VapoRub, a warm sock pinned around my neck, listening to a vaporizer hissing and steaming 6 feet away. I do use EmergenC which works sometimes. Since the viruses in question do not identify themselves upon entering the body, often I do not know if that will work or not since the active ingredients in EmergenC (zinc, echinacea) do not work on an RSV.

    During my school days, the best part of these illnesses was that if we were sick, we could stay home with Dad who was quite entertaining. He would tell me stories of growing up on the farm, his twin neighbor playmates, Vita and Velda, and his imaginary friend Virgil (known as Uncle Virgil). He also allowed us to watch all the TV we wanted: Captain Kangaroo, Art Linkletter’s House Party, and reruns such as My Little Margie. There was not much better than staying home with Dad.

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  8. Love the header photo.

    My dad had Absorbine Jr. for his cure-all. I have several bottles stashed around the house.
    I remember Vicks, but I didn’t like the smell either. Maybe that’s what created my aversion to mint.

    I take sudafed when my nose gets stuffed up. And we take some chewy somethings that are supposed to help prevent colds.
    Daughter does nasal rinses. She handles them really well.
    I can’t do them. I mean I don’t want to do them.

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  11. I start taking Emergen-C at the first symptom of a cold. It won’t completely stop it, but I think it makes it a bit more mild. I also suck on Hall’s menthol cough drops, which help a lot. Otherwise, just all the usual home remedies like chicken soup, hot Detox tea with honey and lemon, and Robitussin if I develop a cough. I try to rest a lot too.

    I haven’t had a really bad cold since I stopped working. My coworkers brought every virus in because they had kids in daycare, and I’ve been exposed to them all. I don’t miss that.

    Like Jacque, I’m prone to respiratory illnesses. I’ve had pneumonia numerous times, asthmatic bronchitis, and even pertussis. I’ve had asthma for over 30 years, and having a respiratory infection really flares it up.

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  12. Husband must be feeling better. He is practicing his guitar for his lessons on Wednesday. There is no cure for the earworm I will have of the tune he is playing over and over and over to perfect his finger picking.

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  16. Over the years I’ve used an assortment of over the counter remedies to ease various cold and flu symptoms. Vicks VapoRub rubbed on the chest, warm milk with honey, and hot elderberry soup were among the first remedies deployed at the first sniffles when I was a child. Camomile tea with a slice of lemon and a dab of honey at bedtime was also in the regimen.

    Throughout my teens, my sinuses seemed to be in a perpetual state of irritation and/or infection, and often needed medical intervention. Looking back, it got blamed on the amount of chlorinated water they were exposed to because of my diving. I now wonder whether the constant haze of cigarette smoke we lived in was the real culprit? My parents were both heavy smokers, as were most of their friends. It wasn’t till I moved away from home and had more control over the environment I lived in that these infections ceased.

    To this day I’m overly sensitive to cigarette smoke. Within hours of arriving in my sister’s house, my nose gets all clogged up and the glands in my throat start swelling. On my three week trip to China in 2001, the constant exposure to polluted air in the big cities we visited did me in. Despite having a medical doctor and a couple of nurses with a well stocked medicine supply in my cohort of fellow travelers, my upper respiratory system was no match for the onslaught. I was sick for weeks after we got back home, and the infection permanently damaged the hearing in my right ear. Put the kibosh on my dream of teaching in China after my retirement since the only positions available at the time were in big cities.

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    1. I have very similar responses to cigarette smoke. I was also raised in a home with lots of cigarette smoke, and I believe it’s true that it causes respiratory issues.

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    2. I was always in a smoking home until I was in my early 20’s. I didn’t have sinus issues, but my eyes reacted by producing crusty discharge overnight. When I was finally living alone, it was something of a revelation to wake up in the morning without having that crustiness to wash away.

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